Fabric challenge

You’d think, since I have been sewing garments and other things since I was pretty young, that I wouldn’t have much of a problem combining fabric and scrapbooking.  Well, I just haven’t tried much to mix them.  Even though my sewing machine is always out on my craft table, right next to where I play with my paper.  Even though I have tiny scraps of fabric all over the place, because I find it hard to part with even small chunks of a favorite cloth.  And even though I admire others’ pages containing stitching and fabric.

On Friday, I checked out the two peas in a bucket weekly challenge…  use fabric on your page.  The example is really pretty… cute stitching and a row of patchwork.  I was intimidated.  Then I happened to reread the Creating Keepsakes Friday blog post from two weeks ago…  Guest blogger Wendy Sue Anderson challenged readers to use a product that may not be your style, and then use it on a layout.  Well, here was an opportunity for me to try out fabric.  So I went a tiny bit crazy…  I added a ruffle.  And I’d always wanted an excuse to try to make yo-yos (the little gathered fabric flowers), so I made some of those, too, while I was watching TV with Husband last night.  And to top it off, I pulled out the glitter letters.  Now *that* is a product that is not usually my style.  I got these letters in the goody box that I won from Making Memories early last summer.  They’re big, and they are very glittery.  So really, I used two products that intimidate me and are not quite my scrapbooking style in this layout.

(as usual, click on the photos to go to the entry on Two Peas in a Bucket)

Some other details about the layout.  I did some machine stitching to make the stems for the flowers.  It was a lot harder than I’d expected to make curlicues!  The purple strip needed a little something, and I don’t own that cute Fiskars Apron Lace punch (which I covet when I see it used on other peoples’ layouts!) so I tried to make my own apron lace.  I used scalloped scissors along the edge, then punched little holes with my eyelet-size hole punch.  It’s a decent approximation, I think, for what it is The layout itself is a take on the most recent PageMaps contest sketch.

committing to it

I’ve been fascinated and thinking about this project ever since I first heard about it maybe a month ago or so.  It’s been called Project 365 in the past, and it’s being called Project Life by some now.  The idea is to take a photo and write a little bit of journaling every day for a whole year.  I love this idea.  2010 is going to be a year full of adventure and changes for Husband and I as he finishes his PhD, we walk together at graduation, and we move on to another place and new job(s).  I’m really excited to document it!

I’d seen the kits that were sold last year for Project 365 through (I think) Creating Keepsakes.  They came with all the journaling cards, an album, and divided page protectors so you could just slip your photos and cards right inside as you went.  I thought about putting together my own supplies, but it was looking a little bit overwhelming, especially because I wasn’t able to find the page protectors with the extra divisions for the journaling cards.  I did find some fabulous journaling cards by My Mind’s Eye, and bought some at the last crop.  Then I saw a kit go on sale today…  It has everything all together, coordinated, and pretty.  And it seemed like a reasonable price for all the stuff, all ready to go.  So I bought one.  Now I’m really committed!

the result of this weekend’s crafting

I participate in a few “challenge” blogs and communities for scrapbooking.  I find them to be inspiring for getting some layouts finished– sometimes I work better with a deadline!

This set of pages, which is about our visit with my in-laws over Christmas 2006, was done as a combination of two different challenges.  The layout is inspired by the Let’s Scrap sketch for this week (ls127) and I followed the rules for ScrapFIT workout #7:

• use a football or football shape in the layout
• neat journaling
• family-related layout

For a while, I didn’t think that I was going to be able to come up with the right combination of photos to do the workout, but at almost the last minute, I was inspired by one of Shutterfly’s Christmas card designs.   Here is my layout and a couple of close-ups.  If you click on any of the photos, you’ll be taken to my twopeasinabucket post on this layout (larger photos!).

This layout is made with entirely solid-colored cardstocks.  I hand-cut the burgundy and gold shapes, and added the hand-written journaling in a curve around the stars.  I tried to adhere the shapes in such a way that they still had some dimension on the page.

I also decided to try my hand at the Studio Calico weekly challenge for this week. The challenge was to create an “easy” holiday card design– one that could be “mass-produced” without a huge amount of effort.was to create an “easy” holiday card design– one that could be “mass-produced” without a huge amount of effort.  Here’s what I came up with (again, click on either photo to see the post on twopeasinabucket).  The circles design was inspired by a layout my friend did at the last crop!

Last night, I finished a pair of baby shoes for a friend of ours at church who just had a baby girl.  I used this cloth shoe pattern, which is really easy to make, and results in some really cute shoes!

Thankful Thursday

I’m thankful that some things are moving along for my projects at work.

I’m thankful that God has been blessing several of  my job-hunting friends with confidence & peace for recent interviews.

I’m thankful for my supportive husband, who encourages me, and helps me to take a step back when I’m infringing on my own sanity

Look at this!

Wow, I was chosen as the winner of last week’s photography challenge on twopeasinabucket.com!

I’m pretty sure that it’s a random winner that’s selected, because the other entries were gorgeous and moving, and I’m not that great of a photographer.  The challenge was “Heroes” and I chose to enter a photo of my husband doing my hair for Halloween.  Even though it’s not the most technically correct photograph, I love that it captured this moment that meant so much to me.  Click here to see my entry.

Crop productivity

That is, the scrapbooking kind of crop, rather than the gardening kind of crop.  Yesterday I went with my friend J to another crop at Daisy Lane in Mattoon, IL.  12 hours straight of scrapbooking (with a little tiny bit of scrapbook supply shopping thrown in– they have so much great stuff there!).  I got way more finished than I had thought!

I have somehow acquired a reputation for being “organized” and “prepared”… imagine that!  haha!  When I went to the first crop back in the beginning of October, I was really worried that I would have a creativity freeze and not get anything done the whole day.  So I searched around online and came up with a few “challenges” to work on, and came prepared with a specific set of pages that I wanted to make.  This time I didn’t have quite as much planning done and I didn’t know how much would get finished.  But I got more done than I had expected!

Here are some small photos of the pages that I made yesterday.  Click on them to go directly to their individual gallery pages at twopeasinabucket.

Tree Hunting

Opening Gifts

ho ho ho (Christmas 2006)

Lefse in Minneapolis

The “Tree Hunting” page was made using a sketch for a challenge (ls126) on the Let’s Scrap community.

I really enjoyed the chatting and good-natured ribbing throughout the day.  It’s been fun to make new scrapbooking friends and share tips and even a few supplies.

Goin’ croppin’

Tomorrow I’m headed to my second all-day crop at Daisy Lane.  I’m pretty excited about it!  I’ve been collecting up sketches, challenges, and ideas to jump-start my projects tomorrow.  I’d like to get at least 2 layouts finished, whether they are 1-page or 2-page.  If I get more finished, I’ll be thrilled!

Maybe my next post will be about my finished pages!

 

Even though it’s Friday, I’m going to post my Thankful Thursday here, too…

*I’m really thankful for scrapbooking.  That sounds silly, but I am.  I love thinking about layouts and combining creativity with preserving my memories.  And it’s a great way to spend time with my best friend!

*I’m thankful that the persistent issues with my paychecks are gradually being sorted out– I think.

*I’m thankful for the good fellowship in my Bible Study and Small Group.

*I’m thankful that I haven’t gotten sick, even though this week I’ve kind of felt like I was coming down with something.

*I’m thankful that I was able to make it through a grueling week of seven TA observations + an observation of a high school class… and still get a big chunk for my side project completed!

 

Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy

Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth Bennet

We had a great time putting our costumes together this year!  Husband and I, after many ideas and iterations, finally decided to do a period costume.  We decided on the Regency era because we were able to find a good men’s pattern as well as a women’s pattern that were manageable in the span of a month.  I used Butterick 3648 for Husband’s jacket and pants and Butterick 6630 (dress A) for my dress.   Neither pattern was an  “easy” one, but they both were reasonable in their difficulty.  The directions were clear, and the sizing came out the way I expected (I lengthened the torso pieces and leg pieces for Husband since he’s tall and otherwise followed the patterns exactly.).  Husband made his top hat out of cardboard and covered it with leftover fabric from his pants.

Mr. Darcy

Mr. Darcy (back view)

Elizabeth Bennet

Elizabeth Bennet (back view)

We have a tradition that this stuffed hamster (his name is Boo) gets in on the costume each year. Husband made him some little accessories, and we think he looked quite dapper!

Boo

All-in-all, I think our costume party was a hit!

Thankful Thursday

I’m thankful for so many things.  God has been blessing me with a great sense of contentment recently.  It is easy to start getting “want-y” when I look at what other people are doing or have, etc., but God has been reminding me of all the wonderful things He has blessed me with right here, right now.

among those things:

* a wonderful husband who encourages me and gets excited about my little successes.  we have been having fun with creating our Halloween costume and we went to a local orchard this weekend.  simple pleasures!

* a Bible study and a small group; both of which are great fellowship times and good, challenging conversations about God’s Word.

* great friends, with whom I have had really fun times recently (you know who you are!! )

* a good job, where I’m learning a lot!

* a day at home today, which I used to run 4 miles on the treadmill (then walk 0.5 mi), complete a couple scrapbook pages, and bake an apple pie.  I was so *happy* today!  and then on top of that, I got a box of scrapbooking goodies in the mail

In which an exciting package is received

Today was already a good day (hopefully I’ll post more about that in a Thankful Thursday post later), but then my husband came in with the mail, bearing a pizza-box sized package for me!  Wooo hoooo!!

Inside was a wealth of scrapbooking goodies– products from Little Yellow Bicycle’s Halloween line from this year:

goodies from The Paperlife's Scraptime giveaway!

It is the giveaway prize I won at The PaperLife blog (see the post here!).  That week, The Paperlife was featuring Christine, the host of Scraptime, which is a really cool blog that updates a few days per week with a video episode that highlights a product, a tool, or a technique.

I’m so excited to use these goodies to scrapbook our Halloween party this year!